i shall return

it's official, i've decided to move back to korea this october. destination: seoul. i am going to take korea by storm and kick its ass this time around.

i've got a list of goals brewing, including: trips to japan, china, thailand, vietnam, and singapore; intensive korean studies; taekwondo classes; saving for grad school; and lots of inner-country hikes and sightseeing. i'm excited at the notion of living and getting lost in a huge city- minneapolis is nice, but small and not at all intimidating. seoul will be the perfect setting. to my surprise, i also found out that some old pals from korea will be returning (most likely to daejeon) around the same time.

things seem to be naturally working out. i was worried about finding pay in between leaving the cafe and leaving home for new york, but p.b.loco took me on for an aggressive wholesales campaign where i'll be working with salsa for a month. it will definitely be fun to learn some new aspects of business life, not to mention work and scheme with salsa and get paid for it.

i worked up the nerve to tell my family and al, and it went over well in both regards. my mom i'm sure isn't exactly thrilled about it but knows i'll probably always feel the need to travel and she gave me her blessings. my dad is thrilled that i really want to save money this time around. celeste said she figured she'd get that phone call sooner or later. although i feel bad about backing out on living with alisun, she says she's glad that i know what will make me happy and that i'm actually going for it. she knows i haven't exactly been happy here, for lack of really trying to make friends (like i said, i never fully felt like myself) and her not being fully available as a friend and roommate- and that's tough when you feel like you only have one friend in a city.

tomorrow is my last p.b.loco day, and luckily it's only for a short while- i just have to go in to make sure that shantel is fully comfortable resuming her role as manager. i have today off and it's been relaxing at that. i've surfed around looking for jobs and reading korean blogs and i went to the midtown global market. i have to remind myself that seoul is very much an international city, because i was kind of feeling like i had to relish in the range of diversity of the shoppers and international foods while shopping. but it's nice that i'll be in a city where most of the comforts of home will still be available to a certain (albeit more expensive) extent.

after tomorrow, i will have saturday-wednesday off, and i don't know what to do with myself! i'm imagining long runs, swimming in the lakes, and lots of korean research. i was spoiled by my school the first time around, and i would love to find a school in seoul with a similar working situation.

already, october seems far away when i start to daydream about returning to meals of kimchi dopbap, alcohol runs to 7-11 at any hour of the night, adorable students, anonymity, catchy commercial jingles, obsessing over cute fellow foreign boys, and the ultimate sense of freedom.

and so, kimchi will return to his motherland. i'm hoping he will have a complete 180 and become the sweet chihuahua he once was. maybe all he needs is a familiar setting: ondol floors, a cozy apartment, and just the two of us. maybe.